


Assorted titles

by ballpoint



Category: Marvel, Marvel 616, Young Avengers
Genre: AU, Character of Colour, Chromatic Character, F/M, First Kisses, Future Fic, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-10-01
Updated: 2010-10-01
Packaged: 2017-10-12 08:20:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,247
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/122857
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ballpoint/pseuds/ballpoint
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>: Eli is a good student, Eli/Kate have the strangest way of hooking up, the YA try their hand at a waltz, Eli/Kate are drying dishes, and other stuff, Eli and Billy don't touch swine.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Assorted titles

**Author's Note:**

  * For [gloss](https://archiveofourown.org/users/gloss/gifts), [Muccamukk](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Muccamukk/gifts), [Ryuutchi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ryuutchi/gifts).



> **Disclaimer** :Characters and situations are the property of Stan Lee and Marvel Comics. No profit is being made off this fan-written work.

**Pruning By Study**

Eli never set out to be a good student, he just ended up there. His first memory nothing but books, of age edged with the sweetness of decay from the older copies. Words there on the page, grandma Faith holding his hand, as his chubby fingers traced an 'A', or a 'B', moving towards mouthing sentences, the letters turning into sentences, _Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water._

School and homework were constants, even though life shifted.

"Eli, no reading at the table. I have something to tell you," his mom sat across from him. There was something different about her today, her face lit and pretty as if it were suddenly Christmas morning. Eli closed his primer, as his mother directed, feeling uneasy. "We're moving to Arizona."

"Arizona?" Eli squealed in surprise. His voice had yet to break and deepen on puberty.

"The winters won't be so cold. You'd see the Grand Canyon, just like in your books."

"But we'd hafta leave grandma and grandad behind?" he asked, dipping his head when his mom nodded yes.

"I don't wanna go."

"I don't want to leave you here."

But she did. Eli remembered the day. He muttered his times table under breath in between the hustle and bustle of the airport. The sea of people and the warm lingering hugs. His mom kissing him on the forehead made twelve times two twenty four. His brothers and sisters, twelve times five sixty. When he got home, sixteen times five eighty.

As he went into junior high, words started to overtake Math. Math was numbers, logical and impenetrable, but words made him feel, even if he never understood them at first : _Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth, upon this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal_.

Writing assignments called for a discipline he never thought he had, but seeing his grandma's face light up at his report, _Eli, I'm so proud of you_ , made him want to try.

Fast forward, and Iron lad, Billy and Teddy. Kang especially, with his earnestness and vocabulary made Eli want to be better, do better. So he read up to translate what was said; _time travel, hyperkinetic, neurokinetic_ , if he had to do extra reading in physics to understand relativity and the grandfather paradox, that's what he'd do.

"You want to work at the library?" Grandma Faith asked as she covered the pot of stew, making it simmer. "As long as you keep your grades up. If they don't...you understand what I'm saying, Eli?"

Eli did, and when Young Avengers became a team - and the SHRA changed things, sometime later, he still had assignments due: _Many writers use a country setting to establish values within a work of literature. For example, the country may be a place of virtue and peace or one of primitivism and ignorance. Choose a novel or play in which such a setting plays a significant role. Then write an essay in which you analyse how the country setting functions in the work as a whole._

Shortly after Stature left the team to join the initiative, Eli came home, threw down his shield. He wiped at his eyes for a bit, before booting up his PC, and started to write. _In John Stienbeck's Of Mice and Men, Soledad is used as a symbol of promise for the new lives that George Milton and Lennie Small may get if they..._

 **The Body Electric**

It took quite a few years before Eli and Kate got to this: past the awkward kisses into something full blown and adult.

When Eli had time to think between breaths, he tried to remember who reached out to whom. They'd just come back from off planet, unable to stop a world from destruction, and as fully fledged members of the Avengers team, they were invited to stay at the mansion. Jarvis shooed them off to bed, in that gentle way only a man of his age and stature could.

Eli didn't go to bed although he'd dressed for it, his mind restless, he stepped into the Avengers' study. Walked towards the bookshelves and rested his head there. He wasn't surprised to find Kate standing beside him a few minutes later, clad in a slinky night gown, appearing from wherever, her back and shoulders resting on the books, her features shadowed in the dim light.

"Found Stark's secret opening, I see."

"Cassie did. Then, because we're best buds..."

"And we'll never know."

"You're just smelly boys," Kate said, and Eli appreciated her trying to keep it light for both their sakes, but didn't blame her when she scrubbed her face with her hands and breathed. "That was horrible."

"Yeah," Eli sighed. "The shitty side of being an Avenger, they never tell you that when we lose, we lose big."

"That's -" a hitch in her breath, and Eli drew an unresisting Kate towards him and hugged her, stroking her back, just to keep her grounded.

"When they want to calm cows down," Eli said, resting his head against the top of hers. "They put them into boxes, where the sides are a bit narrow, and when they press against each other, they just... don't go berserk."

"Are you calling me a cow, Eli?"

"This isn't going to end well for me, I can tell."

Only for Kate to break away and laugh, its edges slightly jangled and bordering on hysteria. Eli stepped forward, and Kate went for the kill. A wild, and angry kiss, that tasted of storms, salt and guilt. Kate hooked her leg around his calf, positioned herself between him and the bookcases, her hand in the waistband of his pyjama bottoms, sliding past the elastic of his boxers, and well -

Eli ran his hands along her waist to steady her, his mouth along the line of her throat, the tips of teeth along the sensitive skin there making her moan.   
He skimmed his hand along her thigh, the sleek muscle under goose pimpled skin to there - the juncture of her thighs. Only to find her completely bare, with only her pubis and wet on the tips of his fingers.

"Wha-"

"You want this, don't you?" Kate whispered, as she angled her head so she could kiss him, and Eli's resolve swept away like ashes in the wind, as he sheathed himself in her, pinning her against the bookcase, her body convulsing around him like a moth at the end of a pin. This was the end, Eli knew, his eyes stung by his own sweat, the muscles in his arms and thighs trembling with the restraint and effort of keeping himself in check. Sensation pummelled him in waves: the snug heat of Kate, the air as thick and fragrant as sea kisses, desire as sharp and cutting as the lash of a whip, that left him just as weak kneed and shaky.

After they came to, Kate descended on unsteady legs, and they couldn't look at each other.

"Kate," he said, but she was gone.

For two months after that, they pretended as if that night in the study hadn't happened. Only Jarvis' tittering about the fact that he had to send a rare bound version of Shakespeare's folios to be repaired, because the bindings were compromised by sweat stains made it real.

In the third month, to celebrate new beginnings, Tony threw a party at the Avenger's mansion. Everywhere was bathed in gold and soft lighting, making the place more Planet Bling than NYC. The great and the good showed up in droves and Kate spent the night darting from one person to the other, like a bumblebee in the lush fields of spring. There she was with the Mayor, giving him a winsome smile as they discussed the sales tax. Kate and Tony Stark got on well, to the surprise of none. Her acknowledgement of his issues with alcohol marked by the fact that she had ginger ale in her hand.

"You need to stop looking," Billy whispered, a presence beside him, sleek in black tie. "I think the entire Tri State area might know."

"Know what?" Eli murmured, taking a flute of whatever from the tray being passed around by swanning waiters. He sipped at the liquid, and couldn't say what it was.

"Whatever you two had, well... it isn't over."

"Whatever, Billy."

Kate found him later on, in the gardens, her dress a column of a deep pink, her hair swept up and off her neck.

"Eli," she greeted warmly. "How have you been?"

Hah, as if she didn't know. But Eli, now acutely aware of the members of the press snapping pictures, played for form. "Just enjoying the party," he said, allowing himself to be lead deeper into the gardens, to the statues and the topiary making elongated spooky shadows in the dark. Kate picked her way across the gardens, and sat on one of the low stone benches, and Eli sat beside her.

"It's a hell of a party."

"Yeah," Eli said, looking at her, seeing the languid smile, how it seemed incongruous with the glitter in her eyes, almost as hard as the diamonds in her ears and on her neck. "I saw you with the Governor."

"Daddy's squash partner."

"Of course."

"Kate," Eli began, unsure of where he stood in the scheme of things. "About that night-"

Kate shook her head, touched his shoulder as she made to get up, but Eli grabbed her forearm. "No, just don't."

"I was there, too."

Kate's smile was faint and sad. "Don't ask me," she shook her head. "I won't answer."

Eli let her go, only for Kate to tiptoe and brush her lips against his, and Eli cursed himself for being weak, as he pulled her to him, his senses dizzy by the fragrance of the flowers in the night and her. Kate tackled him, took him to the grass, and they rolled once, twice until she was on him, her legs astride, as if she were on a horse. Her hair mostly unbound from her hairstyle, cascading around her shoulders. She pinned him to the grass, and lay her head on his chest. From his vantage point he saw the flutter of her lashes against her cheeks, the line of her nose as she lightly rubbed it with her finger.

"We saw an entire planet of people just _die_ , Kate."

"I know, okay?"

Eli looked at the sky above them. In NYC, the grid of lights made it so that one couldn't see the stars, and the smog helped, too. But here, in Tony Stark's garden, it seems that stars shone brighter. It must be nice being rich. He'd have asked Kate, but he heard her steady breathing, and realised that she must have toppled off to sleep.

Three weeks later, Kate showed up at the door of his Avengers living quarters.

"How was Arizona?" she strode in, taking in the Spartan vibe of his room, before she leaned on top of the dresser where Eli was putting his underclothes away.

"It was," Eli said, placing his t-shirts in one of the drawers. "My mom and her guy are good, my siblings are okay. Litigious has grown, and Stephanie is looking at college."

"Where does the time go?"

"I don't know. Considering five years ago, we were Young Avengers."

"Not so young," Kate touched her temple for a minute, and Eli dumped the rest of his clothes in the open drawer, before going, "What?"

"Nothing." Kate rolled her shoulders, and he knew that look by now. Rather wary, but mostly bold, as she stepped over, looped her arms around his neck and shoulders, and kissed him. Eli kissed her back, his hands circling her waist. Their eyes closed, and Kate's mouth opened underneath his, and this is why he never resisted.

Just because he couldn't say no, not when Kate was like this; pliant and soft as fragrant wax in his arms as they tumbled into bed. Her fingers unbuttoning his button down, his mouth brushing kisses at the tops of her breasts, his hand unhooking her bra. He traced her lips with his tongue, before she opened her mouth and let him in. Kate. The flutter of her lashes, her eyes distant and unaware, for only now mattered. Kate's mouth and fingers traced his jaw, marking it with the hot wet wash of her tongue; and Eli bit back a groan, because his trousers suddenly felt three sizes too small.

"You're killing me."

"Stop, and I will."

He didn't because he couldn't. The world was steeped with Kate; the smell of her skin on his, the touch, as her skin dragged against his own, because their bodies were still new to each other in this way. Her thighs opening, her stomach against his, her hand on him as she guided him in, her breath coming out in tremors and sobs, before she pressed her mouth to his again.

This time, Eli fought, held on. He blindly searched for her hand, felt her fingers curling into his, and with his head caught between her head and shoulder, he closed his eyes and gave himself over to all the emotion banked there.

As he came to, he realised that Kate was still here. Her eyes not as cloudy and dreamy as they were, her fingers tracing his nose and lips.

"Poopyhead. You do this to all your women?"

"Probably?"

Kate's lips tugged into that half smirk. "Figures."

"What is this?" he asked, and Kate stared at his ceiling, her fingers linked across her breasts.

"This is what you wanted, right?"

"I don't know."

"Oh, this is rich," Kate sat up, and Eli scrambled to sit up as well, the sheet falling around his waist. "You could have said no, but-"

"In the study? That's what you mean? I couldn't have said no. If you'd seen your face -"

"Oh so what am I? A pity f-"

Kate could always exasperate him in ways that no one else could. She knew which buttons to push.

"No, because a planet just died, and you were hurting, Kate," and listen to _him_ , sounding sensible and mature. "It just happened."

Kate looked at him, eyes wild, and suddenly, she placed her face in her hands and exhaled a shuddery breath. "I almost decided to quit The Avengers there and then," she said. "We did our best, with all our powers and might and we _weren't good enough_."

"No," Eli agreed, as he touched her shoulder gingerly. "We weren't."

"And when they came for you -"

"But Billy saved me. We'll come back, until we won't."

"You almost _died_ on planet," Kate raised her eyes to his, her anguish reflected there. "A planet dies, and all I was worried about was in that instant, if we'd make it out alive, but dammit, we couldn't leave you. Don't tell me that we should've. Just don't."

Eli did the next best thing then. He framed her face in his hands and kissed her, put all the pent up emotion of the past three months; frustration, and relief. Kate responded, her reactions just as torrid.

"I won't," he brushed a hank of hair from her cheek, and because the mood demanded it, he said, "but I'm hurt if all this was nothing but a pity fu-"

Kate closed the gap between them and kissed him again.

 **Radetzky March, Op .288**

"We did it," Kate sheathed her staves in their casings strapped against her thigh. The evidence of their efforts scattered before them; overturned cars back to back, the destruction over a mile long, uprooted traffic lights. Shell shocked New Yorkers stumbling around by Madison Avenue and 85th street. In the former thicket of trees an oversized dog - suspiciously looking like a mastiff, lying on his back, his tail wagging with pleasure.

"Down, boy," Tommy stroked the dog's stomach, his tones warm and encouraging. "Who's been a good, slobbering, needs to be slapped with a rolled up paper who needs to be universe trained boy?"

"I'll call ... someone," Billy hovered over his brother.

"You do that. We need to get this place cleared pronto," Kate tsked. "What a mess."

Eli had to agree, as he gingerly rubbed his jaw, where oversized Fido over there knocked him over with a rampant zeal.

"What time is it-? Oh Kate, you missed your _Cotillion_ ," Cassie gave her friend a small, sympathetic smile.

Kate shook her head, and adjusted the shades on the bridge of her nose. "It's fine, Cass."

"But -"

"Forget it," Kate strode off, in the direction of the dog. Eli watched her go, observed the taut line of her shoulders, as she moved towards Billy. Cassie made to go, only for Eli to block her path, and put his hand on her shoulder.

"A Cotillion?"

"Yeah, it's like a dance," Cassie looked in Kate's direction. "She wanted to go, but this came up and- well."

"But Kate's only a Sophomore?"

"Dunno."

At this, Eli let Cassie go, and she scampered off in the direction of Vision, who was somewhere off in the distance of trees. Tommy's whoop of laughter louder than the happy growls of the dog.

"I wanna hug him and love him and call him George. Can we have him, huh? Huh? Huh?"

"No, Tommy."

"Oh, poo."

Eli watched Kate as she spoke with Billy, her features neutral, save for the flash of a smile. She liked to dance?

oOo

Sometimes, Kate thought to herself as she pressed the code to YA HQ, and slipped into their lair, she really disliked being Kate Bishop. Fencing, AP Math were okay,having to explain (again) why she missed the Cotillion- and not having the powers that be think it was due to her _trauma_ a year ago- was not. Her school guidance counsellor inquired after her well being: _Just making sure that you're functioning in spite of everything._

 _I'm fine, Ms Webb. Thank you._

 _I'd hate for you to feel as if you couldn't move on. Attending these social events is an excellent way to recover-_

 _Something came up. I... had to universe train a dog._

 _Good to see you're keeping your sense of humour, dear_.

Ugh, glad that got done.

Gently, Kate laid her bow across the sofa, only to be drawn from her reverie by the music, accompanied by muffled laughing and the stomp of feet coming from two floors up. She recognised that introduction (A minor) to the familiar 3/4 meter _anywhere_. Curious, and drawn to the music, Kate took the stairs, pushing her way up to the room on the third floor. When Kate first had the building taken over for the purposes of an HQ, she transformed all of it into a huge space with a wooden floor, another sparring area for martial arts or whatever. The sky lights brought the late afternoon night into the room, and there, right in front of her were the rest doing _whatever_ : Cassie, Tommy, Vision, Billy, Teddy and Eli. There wasn't enough of them to do the quadrille, or the four male- four female dances, although Vision projected a hologram of a woman dancing with Tommy; with flashing eyes, scarlet cowl and deep auburn hair. To the far right, in the corner of the room the sounds of someone's smart phone connected to tiny speakers with the adequate resonance.

Their turns were awkward; they were competent, but not smooth. Cassie laughed as Jonas lead her into a spin as pretty as anything, her steps wobbly at first. _Posture, Cassie, he's giving you a good frame, stay with it_. Teddy and Billy took turns leading and being lead, their huffs of laughter tripping with the music. Kate would have stood there for a long time, warmed by the scene of her friends before her if Tommy hadn't caught her eye, and in a blink, Kate spun into his arms, taking a step back, before being lead forwards, Tommy two beats ahead of the waltz itself.

The music, she knew, _The Blue Danube_ , a favourite. Not too fast, so that you could not do the steps, but not too slow to drag. The gentle rising of the cellos and horns and harps, as she travelled the floor with her teammates. Tommy, more bravado than technique, his hand on the small of her back, instead of higher. Billy, gentle but confident as he lead her into steps. Teddy bounced a bit too much, and broke the romance of the waltz by swinging her around the room, but oh! Fun. Jonas, a treat with his steps perfectly timed, his movements sure, a bow and then smack into Eli's arms.

"I never knew you danced," Kate breathed, as the music kicked into the _Radetzky March_ , which was a bit more complicated, with claps on the upbeat and foot stomps on the downbeats. The air filled with laughter as everyone got into the spirit of it, as he lead her to the side.

"I don't. My version of dance has always been break and beats." Eli admitted, as he swept her into a turn, his palm flat, fingers splayed against against her skin, just below her shoulder blades. Kate leaned into the touch, Eli's arms cradling her, as the quieter strings held the beat, before the brass kicked in with its cheer and bombast, accompanying their travel around the room. Eli surprised her, he wasn't a bad dance partner. Not as technically sound as Jonas, or as sensitive as Billy, but he had his own style; enough confidence in his body language to give her signals to follow, and confident in that she might do. Kate hummed absently,happily handing herself over to this moment. Not that she told anyone but Cassie, but she'd always adored the dances. Before - martial arts, before YA, this is what she lived for, as much as cello.

"So what -? Cassie."

"She hinted that you liked it, and we wanted to know what you did at a Cotillion. Jonas suggested we try it, gave us some pointers, aaaannndddd-"

"Busted."

"Yeah," Eli smiled, and suddenly, for the first time since her conversation with that dastardly Ms Webb, Kate liked being Kate Bishop. "Busted."

 **It's so quite a new thing**

When the YA first formed and moved into headquarters, Kate, being Kate ,instituted ground rules. Everyone who came in had to pull his own weight, with household tasks done by rota.

"We can't have a Jarvis," she explained, as she unveiled the grid with its colour coded squares for the first time. "I can hide this -" she gestured, indicating the buildings and their costumes, "- and many things under the umbrella of 'shopping' but not a butler. That calls for records, pensions, contributions to social security. Health insurance. _Nothing_ is that expensive from Neiman Marcus. Believe you me, my sister has tried."

To her pleasant surprise, the rest of the team accepted the rota as a given. That's when Kate realised, most people had siblings they had to look after, and no servants. Oh, she'd always known that, and served people who had less than but to live with people who functioned on less, and got on with said 'lack' was a revelation.

Tonight, it was Eli's turn to do the dishes. He turned on the radio, just a local station, the sound making the cavernous kitchen less lonely, and slightly warmer.

The weather outside frigid, the windowpane wet with rain, drops streaking down the surface like tears. Inside, Eli went about taking out the clean dishes from the dishwasher, towel slung over his shoulder.

Kate leaned against the doorjamb, watching Eli work. His movements easy, studied, competent, as he sprayed and wiped the dining table, stacked the placemats and put them to one side. Today, his soft clothes consisted of a Lacrosse polo shirt and jeans. The sleeves short enough to show the muscles in his arms, tapering down to well formed wrists and fingers.

"I thought you were gonna go home?"

Kate crossed the room, not surprised that Eli heard her, no matter how softly she padded around in her socks. "My sister's hosting one of these charity dinners for the Met, and I didn't want to go. It's founder's day at school tomorrow, so it's a sort of a holiday. I thought-" Kate broke off, as she grabbed a towel from its rack beside the window, and stood beside him. "I'd stay. You?"

"Switched shifts with Lowry. He wanted the day tomorrow to spend it with his boy. It meant more to him than me, so."

Kate lifted a plate, dried it and put it to one side. "It seems a shame that on the day we have brisket with all the sides, Billy doesn't get to wash the dishes."

The brisket came courtesy of Billy's mom. Not that she accepted the path they'd undertaken, Billy went to great pains to explain. Nor did this dish show her _compliance_ to said path, but she knew teenagers and they couldn't live on fast food alone, and it would be a shame for her to be aware of this and not save them from their own diet of convenience food, hence the dish.

"It's good brisket. I'll dry dishes for a good brisket."

"Point." Kate stopped wiping, and leaned against the counter, her body braced against her elbows, watching Eli work under her lashes. It wasn't her day to do dishes, she told herself, she'd already dusted the furniture in the library.

Eli turned to do the rest of the plates, only to find Kate between him and the rest of the crockery.

"You're blocking my progress, Bishop."

"Oh, wow. I guess I am," Kate said, not surprised but thrilled when Eli brushed past her. There were things Eli might have known, but she'd never confirm. That she liked the fact that he leaned close enough for her to smell the dash of soap on him, as well as him. She didn't flinch when he was near, and when he placed his hands on either side of the counter, and got into her space, she wondered what took him so long.

"It's not your night for dishes."

"It's not your night, either."

"Teddy wanted to take Billy out for -well, whatever reason they have," Eli smiled, because they were Billy and Teddy, and Kate grinned, because it was true.

"So that's why he isn't here, putting away the remains of brisket."

"Okay," Kate whispered, placing her arms on his forearms. She raised her eyebrows, face expectant. Eli must have _finally_ gotten a clue, as he held her at her waist to steady her. He stroked her cheek, placed a finger against her lower lip.

"Right, just so that I'm not misreading this, we're gonna kiss, right?"

Kate thumped him on the shoulder. "Way to break the mood."

"Hey!"

Kate threw the weight of her body on the balls of her feet, so that she closed the height gap between them. She framed his cheeks between the palms of her hands and pressed her lips to his, because sometimes, the only way to get anything done, was to initiate it herself.

 _Don't leave me hanging, Eli_ , Kate thought a split second, before he yanked her against him, his hands on her waist and her shoulder blades. The first kiss a clumsy one, due to their zealousness and the fact that they were still new to each other.

By the time they got to the third kiss, it was so quite a new thing. Eli kissed her with his eyes closed (Kate snuck a peek under lowered lashes, to make sure it was a mutually agreed upon new thing). Nipped at her lower lip because ticked and made her laugh, and they'd kiss again. Or when his eyes were open, at this breath of a distance, they'd be dark and soft on her, and she might have felt the frisson of a flush at the edges of this, and because to think was hard, she'd kiss him.

Eli liked how Kate would break away, smile at him as if she heard the most delicious secret, before brushing her lips against his again.

In the kitchen, with the static of the radio, the white noise of the rain outside, Kate and Eli discovered that when it came to kisses, third time was indeed the charm of such a new thing.

 

 _i like my body when it is with your  
body. It is so quite a new thing.  
Muscles better and nerves more.  
_

e.e. cummings

 **All The Toppings**

"Honey, I'm _home_ ," Tommy announced, doing his best TV sitcom warble as he zoomed in, his hands laden with cartons of pizza pie. With great ceremony, he laid them on the table in front of the TV.

"Nice!" Cassie scrambled from her space on the coach, and flipped the lid open, the rich scent of baked cheese and meat filled the room. "Hmmm, yum. You're better than Mario's, Tommy. We don't have to think about having our pizza in twenty minutes or getting them free."

"Pizza. You're a great man, Tommy. A great, great man."

"Nice to see that pizza has made you seen the truth and the light, Eli. I might bring you pie everyday, sweetheart."

Laughing, Eli gave him the finger as he grabbed some napkins. With a grin, Tommy returned the gesture, before he wrapped a slice in a fistful of napkins and handed it to Kate.

"Hot food, for a hot babe," Tommy winked, and with a blush on her cheeks, Kate laughed, as she bit into her bit of pie.

"Sweet," Teddy gingerly blew on his slice of pizza, sucking up the stringy bits of mozzerella cheese.

"Hey, c'mon, share." Billy nudged Teddy's shoulder, as he made to dip his hand in the carton, but stopped as he asked, "What's this pizza made of anyway?"

"All the trimmings: peppers, pineapple, spicy beef, pepperoni, with cheese sauce and crispy bacon bits -"

At this Billy stopped, took a step back. Eli quickly handed his piece over to Teddy.

Tommy stopped his spiel, and frowned. Eli and Billy exchanged a look and a smile of surprise and solidarity at each other.

"Okay, you brothers from other mothers," Tommy folded his arms across his chest and glared at his team mates. "What's that about?"

"No can do. It's pork."

"I thought you were a Reform Jew, Billy?"

"Not _that_ reformed."

"Okay, Bradley, what gives?"

"Just, no. Besides, it would be like eating _Babe_." Eli shook his head. Tommy had a funny feeling that there was more to that story, but he and Eli weren't best buds, so he let it go.

"Well, you can't not eat anything," Cassie shook her head. "It's _dinner_."

"Don't worry about it, Cassie," Eli smiled at her. "We're cool. It happens."

"No need to be _The Young Martyrs_ , you guys," Tommy stood up. "You can eat pizza, just not pork? You'll get pizza."

"Oh, all right, if you insist, _Dad,_ " Billy rolled his eyes. "I'll have vegetarian pizza. You, Eli?"

"Same," Eli went for his wallet, and Tommy dismissed Eli's action with a wave. "Keep your money, shield boy, I can afford to buy you both pizza."

"Hey, thank-" and Tommy sprinted away before Eli could finish his sentence. It wasn't about that anyway.

Fin


End file.
